


Deathgrip

by Dorkside



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Child Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader Redemption, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-18 13:11:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11875215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorkside/pseuds/Dorkside
Summary: It seems Tatooine is Darth Vader's personal hell. Upon a discovery, Anakin is uprooted, albeit subtly. Eventually, his wayward offspring joins the Rebel Alliance and --- you'll just have to find out. Starts off VERY dark.This is an Alternative Universe Fiction in progress with the aim to cater to the Starwars nerds and the Starwars angst/reconciliation for Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fans. Eventual Dr. Aphra, BT1 and the shebang to be grafted in.





	1. A Familial Tie Down

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive me, this starts off very dark but tis necessary

           An onlooker's plaintive _"Wait!"_ was drowned at a heavy careen as metal viciously met stone. Vader held his fist against the wall in satisfaction, he was pinning the degenerate Toydarian by his crushed skull. Watto's elephantine features were mangled. His trunk like snout; shredded, and one wing loosely threaded to his humerus. As Watto's body seeped down to the barren floor of the cave, Vader carefully extracted his hand, careful to not damage his cybernetic wires in the stone's rough indent. Stiffly, he gazed down at his work and felt, as always, unfulfilled revenge still teasing the corners of mind. Vader wanted to brand the slave master with his lightsaber, but as with many things, it was too late now. Weak pleading tore through his mind at the memory of his mother's branding. Vader remembered the smell of seared fleshed, the chocked cry that escaped his throat in shock, the tears which streaked his mother's face and the self loathing imprinted into his soul. He had failed to protect her and would again. Vader visibly shook himself, that was another man, a weak man, from a lifetime ago. Anakin's slave master's death was irrelevant as was his mother's. Vader's robotic snarl escaped his throat as he stepped over the carcass and turned towards the slaves. The battered bunch shrunk back in fear as the tendrils of the dark side lapped at them, undoing their bonded hands.  Their fear... was palpable... fuel to his ever building high of power. The Dark Angel's cape billowed out dramatically as he turned to return to his ship until... a sense of deep seated mourning and concern slapped his senses.

            Vader halted abruptly, as tho hitting an invisible wall. Vader turned, confused and transfixed on the scene before him. As other slaves triumphantly spit on the dead Toydarian, a boy knelt beside him, his blonde mop of hair hanging in quiet despair. Lord Vader stretched out his senses, refusing to beleive a freed slave was mourning his master, and found, to his fury, the boy was doing just as he suspected. Before his boot could leave the ground, accusing voices sang as three slaves rained down punches and kicks to the traitor's abdomen. The boy lurched onto his hands, blood spattering onto his wrists from the dead creature beside him. The boy's mouth opened in a soundless expression of pain. Unexpectedly, he held his composure. Curious at the boy's remarkable calm and collection, Vader prodded his mind to find him unsheilded; a strong force sensitive but untrained. He heard the boy's conviction that _We are no better if we harm those who harm us_. The boy's mind sang with the purity of the lightside. Cursing, the Sith retreated to the black recesses of his mind, burned by the light. He exploded back to the present as he heard the name "Skywalker."

            In an instant, a forboding crimson light shuttered the cave walls as the Dark Lord's lightsaber was drawn with a _crack_ , "What did you call him?!" he demanded in his rumbling baritone. The horde of slaves shuddered and drew back, too fear stricken to speak. _Which one said....?_ Furious at their silence, and the boy who hadn't budged an inch, he stalked to him, pausing before the crouched blonde. "Tell me your name," he ground out. Now, panic was beginning to radiate off the boy and he looked to the barren ground, swinging his hand toward the ground as if searching for something. The boy's slight build slumped in defeat, and he looked toward the other slaves with pleading eyes. _His eyes are familiar._ Out of fear, and some sick sort of desire to see him hurt, the horde remained silent. Patience lost, Vader lightly seared the boy's leg causing the teenager to jump backwards. Oddly, his victim let out no sound. Vader stretched out his hand, placing a warning pressure on the boy's delicate larynx. The Dark Lord sensed as the boy's panic began to rise to fear as the boy gestured towards his mouth with a flurry of motions and trembling hands. The boy raised his aqua blue eyes, piercing Vader's with their intensity, begging him to understand. Suddenly, the pressure on the boy's throat released. Annoyance radiated off the towering figure, his displeasure audible by the sound of his prosthetic fist closing "You're mute, young one?" The blonde's facial features softened in relief and he nodded. _So much like Padme's cheeks and nose..._ "Is your name Skywalker?" the younger man tensed, feeling encroached by the man's behemoth frame and hissing lightsaber, clearly wondering what his answer would yield him. Sensing intimidation would not yeild him an answer, Vader deactivated the lightsaber and took one step back, waiting. The boy's barely noticeable nod of affirmation sent the temperature of the room plummeting. Two steps had Vader in a protective stance over Skywalker. Glowering at the gathering of freed slaves,  The Dark Lord commanded "You will leave us. Now!"


	2. Validation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter(s) will be up each Monday.

Neither men heard the rustle and bustle as the onlookers exited, they each sensed only the stirring of the force around them, promising to deliver something. A roar of wrath tunneled Vader's vision. His son, his heir was a slave because Obi-wan had kidnapped and hid his child. Acutely, Vader felt the trembling, very much alive form of Skywalker underneath him. _My son, I have a son!_ The father looked down, realizing his son's ragged gasps were very visible, billowing even in the temperature drop. In a very unsith like gesture, years of his unbridled passion were reined in. Gradually Tatooine's heat returned into the cave, a parralell to the small flame growing in the Father's heart. Still, his son was steeling himself for the deathblow, body tense, lips pursed, and eyes slitted. Vader took a knee beside the blonde and placed a beckoning finger underneath Skywalker's jaw, asking for his attention, and gently prodding at the boy's mind.

            _Young one, I will not harm you._

The boy recoiled, not at Vader's touch, but at the mental intrusion and gazed questionly at him. _Skywalker, focus on me and speak._

Skywalker was begining to look hysterical; from expecting death to now hearing voices that said he could conversate.

 _Steady boy._ Vader grounded him to reality with his sharp tone.

The boy's mental voice stuttered uncertainly and his pale face flushed in embarressment _I... I.... Lu- Luke. Luke Skywalker._

"Luke," the dark figure whispered in reverence.

 An odd silence gripped the room. Suddenly, Luke's force signature beamed, unintentionally brushing the Sith's in elation. _How... how is this?_

Underneath his helmet, Vader smirked, _We are both force sensitive. The force can be used to communicate._

Somehow even underneath his mask, Luke found and met his eyes directly and gave him the pearliest smile. At Skywalker's smile, tumultuous emotions bubbled behind his mental shields, and Vader began to understand how the boy felt. Luke felt... validated at the ability to communicate just as he felt... human as the recipient of the smile.

         It was a discomfiting sight, Darth Vader as this black and foreboding figure crouched low beside a very happy young man. Self conscientiously, Vader glanced at his surroundings, intending to destroy any holonet droid documenting this private moment. At Luke's grimace, he became aware of the pain the blonde was projecting. Despite the heat, Darth Vader felt spiders of ice crawl up his spine at the realization of his son's vulnerability. He could have whisked Skywalker away and fled the Empire into uncertainty,  but the whispers of power trickled over him...much like they had with his dark visions of Padme's death. Power brought security. Security brought order. The dark tendrils of the force promised safety for Luke if only his son became his own savior. Privately, the Sith knew the solution, but knew it'd take time.


	3. Sith vs Father

Abruptly, Vader rose to his feet, his son mirroring his movements, albeit slower.

Vader stood quietly before stating "I will provide you with bacta patches and painkillers. They're on my ship.'

 A blast of curiosity and disappointment emanated from the young man as he shuffled his feet boyishly.

 "What is it, boy?"

Skywalker practically shrank, seeming even shorter under Vader's impatient glower and terse tone, but suddenly squared his shoulders _That won't be neccessary sir._

Vader surprised himself by smirking, amused at the predicament old, feeble Obi-wan must have found in his son. Clearly, Obiwan had seen too much pride and gall; too much Skywalker and abandoned the boy to the will of the force.

"It will be no issue." Vader said in his deepest baritone. There. That'd finish the discussion, his officers knew that baritone, knew to drop it.

Luke's head cocked, and his nose wrinkled into a scoff, clear disbeleif. _Sir, you must be from off planet. Bacta Patches are highly valuable... only the wealthy aquire them here. I have no means to repay you._

Vader folded his arms across his chest, as if he were about to rebut his son's explanation but found himself in a knot. _Kriff, kriff, kriff_  

"You are correct I don't reside in Tatooine. However, I haven't needed a med kit in years. My med kit supply is practically overflowing." Vader focused on a simple mind trick "Again, it will be no issue"

Of course, his wayward offspring's effervesent force presence _just had to_ rebuff his mind trick. It _just had to_ when his son was in clear pain.

Luke just stood with his arms crossed before _Your kindness is refreshing. However, I do not accept charity._

Drained from his son's lack of compliance, Vader facepalmed, or rather maskpalmed into his glove, streaking the eye sockets. His usually clear cybernetic vision was now muffled, distorting the boy into a haze. Vader would justify his next words to himself by beleiving that it _really_ wasn't because he was powerless in the battle of wills against a teenage Skywalker, he just decided to fight defensively. So he bit his tongue back from a string of Huttenese curses, and in the name of defense Vader muttered "You didn't say you don't want the patches. If you won't accept a gift, can you offer any services to pay for them?"

His son's eyes flashed with triumph as he began to plan his negotiations.

 _Bartering, a necessity for Outer Rim life. Even for the mute_ Vader reflected privately.

 _"Watto always described me by saying 'Give him time, and he can fix anything.'"_ Luke's eyes seemed faraway, lost in memories, Finally, he continued _"I clean vaporators, set tourists up with Spice Dealers, and like today, I was a pit boy, but I'm not offering that service. In fact, I can't offer any services till tomorrow morning."_

"I should have burned Watto alive!" the Father roared. Realization began to dawn on Vader. A pit boy, that was why Luke's eyes didn't fill with horror when he saw him. His son simply couldn't see him till dawn. A pit boy was the Hutt's form of entertainment. Pit boy's were given a temporary blinding agent, tossed in with a rancor for an hour and if they survived (none did,) then they lived to repeat the act. Clearly, the nudges of warning given by the force kept his son alive.

Luke shuffled back as he felt dark tendrils of the force wind around him. The tendrils clenched and seized at him, searching, but for what, he did not know. Luke, without his sight, very cautiously lifted a hand to remove the tendrils but his hand only caught air. _Obi-wan really did teach him nothing..._ thought Vader as Luke pawed at the air once more, till he belatedly realized it was the force at work. Before Luke could protest or ask what his companion was doing, Vader supplied "I'm scanning you for injuries." Luke grumbled internally " _As if it's the most natural thing in the world. Why is his voice so different when he audibly speaks?"_ Vader winced as he heard his son's unspoken question. He'd have to teach his boy how to shield, soon.

            As rage cackled like lightening in the air, Vader, with an icy calm told his son to rest, and that he'd have a task for him at first light. Of course his son, grilled underneath Tatooine's twin suns and conditioned by the rolling sands said he didn't need rest. When Vader laid firm hands on his shoulders, his tight grip warning against any resistance, Luke again wondered who this man with durasteel hands was. Vader began striding towards the yawning mouth of the cave, pebbles on the floor trembling from his thundering gait. He paused when Luke asked timidly " _Sir, what is your name?_ " Vader, cut off his automatic reply. He was Darth Vader, Commander of the Imperial Forces, Lord of the Sith and second in line to the Imperial Throne but he knew this honest reply would only cause his son more distress, and plague him with fear in his blind, vulnerable state. So he lied, and whispered " _You may call me Kin, Luke_." For Luke, it was confusing, this Kin's furious outburst, the amount of concern that flooded from him,  and the way Kin hovered over him. Never the less, Luke dipped his head in acknowledgement and said a light " _Thank you, Kin_." Regret seemed to seep off of Vader as he wondered if his son had any sense of importance, any sense of self. Slavery drove any identity far from those caught in its tide. Luke was freeborn, his son, destined for greatness before Obi-wan snatched him away. Before stepping out the cave entrance, Vader promised himself _Tomorrow, when he can see, I will explain who I am to him so he may understand his importance._ Wordless, Vader stalked out of the cave, intent on retrieving bacta patches and any possessions his son may have.

            As Vader crested the top of the hill, near the entrance of the cave, the rays of dawn casted a white sheen on his mask and the wind billowed out his cape. Outside the cave's domain, Vader's foot fall hesitated, and gradually faltered. He was unprepared to face his son, to see the fear overtake him and stomach the rejection that was sure to follow. So, Vader turned to meditate upon the gently rolling sands. Much like his son, the pure, reflective sands seemed to not fit with Tatooine's coarse, unrefined environment. A dredge of doubt welled up in Vader, much like it had when he found Anakin's lightsaber in the boy's possessions. Anakin's lightsaber was obviously treasured, polished till it was streakless, and kept in a cushioned chest. While Obiwan had given the boy a link to his heritage, he had poisoned the boy with Jedi doctrine, hindering the boy's acceptance of the dark side. Vader was certain of it. He bit back a snarl at the thought Obiwan relinquished in peace, to old age. It was, a pity really.

            He twisted the lightsaber in his hands, pensively. "But what does the boy know of his father?" he murmured quietly. The force jolted in warning around him, Vader ripped his head to the right, in time to dodge a brick streaking towards him. Stunned, Vader turned to face his attacker; his son, who was seeing for the first time who this 'Kin' was. It was as if Luke had become possessed by another being; his timid nature was forgotten, and he quivered in uncontrolled rage. As he planted himself in a position to throw himself against the Sith, his nostrils flared and his blue eyes became like frost _I know who you are, Vader! I know you killed Anakin!_

            Father and son mirriored eachother in pure, unadultered fury and outrage. The breeze suddenly became a gale of howling wind as Vader chocked out "What?" despair managing to escape through his vococoder. Luke, however, was oblivious to Vader's despair and snarled _You're a traitor and a murderer! You'll destroy me, as you did him and every other force sensitive!_ When the dark side screamed vengeance; Vader lost his grip on reality and found it on Luke's neck. Luke kicked against Vader's hulking mass as he was pinned against the cavern wall by his neck. His vision became white with panic, Luke was chocking. Vader's inhuman grip was unrelentless and steadfast as growled like a starved beast. Vader towered over Luke, pressing into him, his mask inches away from Luke's pale face. "Obiwan told you I killed Anakin?" As the black hands of death began to press on his windpipe, Luke knew this was not a question, just a statement of confirmation. Luke let out a hacking cough, his saliva drenching Vader's glove.

             As Luke's vision became dusted over with darkness, the pressure ceased, and he was gently eased to the ground and turned onto his side, the recovery position. Luke's would-be killer was at his side, on his knees and his hands quaked without respite. Vader's hands continued to shake, and he attempted to get up, to distance himself from the boy, but shock coursing through his body sent him back to the ground, just a few feet away from Luke. Luke's ears rung painfully at each jagged rasp Vader drew in. Vader stared unseeing, he had lost his control, his security, his order; he had lost grip on the source of his power. Vader abandoned himself in the force, the whispers of shame, self loathing and rage ravaged him from all sides, eating him alive. He had tried to kill his son. His son. "No!" Vader lunged towards Luke, running his hands down his arms, feeling for a tremor, a breath, anything to show he was alive. Luke's eyes turned up to meet his, a stormy blue and he batted his eyelashes weakly, giving into the enticing dark. Luke minutely heard the ripping of cloth and wire as Vader's cloak was thrown over him. Vader's shadow fell over Luke as he gathered him into his arms, as if he were precious. Fear lurched in Vader as he felt the boy sag limply into the crooks of his arms. Vader cradled Luke against his chest whispering "You were right to hide him Obiwan. I decimate everything I touch. Even my son." The dull thrumming in Luke's head became overpowering, and his head swam with _Son?_ before he descended into darkness.


End file.
